Conflicted
by AwakeningEden
Summary: Tahno couldn't help himself. His mind lingered on the possibility, the what-if.
1. Possibilities

Tahno couldn't help himself. His mind lingered on the possibility, the what-if.

What if Korra had saved him? What would have happened then?

He would have been eternally grateful, forever in debt.

He probably would have followed her to the ends of the earth.

He would have irrevocably fallen in love with her.

Tahno understood the type of person he was: he was conceited, sleazy, manipulative. He had no qualms in dirtying his hands in order to prove he was the best. Hell, the refs had told his team beforehand they could play as dirty as they wanted and they wouldn't get called. They probably wanted to preserve the Wolfbats' legacy and Tahno had no reason to disagree with him. He wanted the fame, the attention, the money; it was why he escaped from the Swamps in the first place. To make a name for himself, to escape the dull, unsatisfying life of sweeping through swamps, hunting for food, and sleeping in trees.

He had wanted the fame, desired and craved it like the waterbending he mastered to get this far. The tabloids could say whatever the hell they wanted about him, he had _earned_ his glory.

But he knew also the type of person he could be. He knew and understood compassion. He knew and understood love, kindness, and sacrifice. He knew and understood these principles. He just didn't care for them; he was selfish and unkind to everyone and anyone that couldn't advance him to higher places. What were those emotions to someone who, with a snap of their fingers, could have the world on a platter. He didn't need to be kind. He didn't need to love or be loved. He had _earned_ the right to be an egomaniac and no one would dare question it.

But he had never expected to be in a predicament where the one part of him that was so central to his identity, to his way of life, would be ripped right out of him.

In that moment, as Amon's rough hand descended to meet his forehead, Tahno's inner voice pleaded for the Avatar to save him. She was the peacekeeper of this world. The one that restored balance. Surely, if anyone could save him in this moment, she would.

But she never came. And Tahno felt his very soul being cast out and sucked back in him within a single touch. His eyes glazed over as he was kicked off the platform, as he trudged through the water towards the dry concrete. Never in his life had he felt so out of place as he watched the Avatar and the Chief of Police go after the man and his crew that he taken something so central to him. Never had he felt so terrified as he watched the Avatar descend into the Arena, coming closer and closer to slamming her back on the platform. Never had he felt so relieved as the Chief of Police grabbed a hold of her and landed her to safety.

Never had he felt the need to ask someone for forgiveness in that very moment.

Tahno tried so hard to deny that these new emotions existed. Tried so hard to deny his bending was gone.

But Tahno, while great at manipulating and lying to others, had never been great at lying to himself.

Tahno was not the same. Could never be the same. Even if by some miracle his bending was restored, he could never reject these new feelings, this part of his life.

He could never deny how small he was in the scheme of things. That he was just a tool for the advancement of either cause. A villain who received his just desserts to the equalists; a martyr who paid the ultimate price to the benders. No one saw him as a person anymore. Not the Chief of Police, not the Airbending Master, not the Council, not Toza, and not even his so-called friends. He was tainted to everyone.

Except to the Avatar.

She had been the first person to talk to him like he was still something of value. She even apologized, regardless of what he done to her in the past.

She, who had been nothing but brash and abrasive to him. She, who had seen him as nothing more than a target for her own frustrations…saw the person underneath in his time of weakness.

The Avatar…_Korra_…for all she had been to him before, was nothing but understanding and compassionate in his time of desperation. Nothing but kind. Nothing but wonderful as she tried to perform her duties as the Avatar, the one to restore balance to the world.

It was then Tahno realized as he lied awake on his bed, sleepless for the sixth night in the row that no matter what had happened in the attack, the same outcome would have occurred. Already occurred.

He would have fallen in love with Korra anyway.


	2. Withdrawal

It had been a week.

_A week._

He had heard what occurred at the Sato mansion. Knew that the Fire Ferrets and Mako's girlfriend were living on Air Temple Island. Heard rumors of the new technology the equalists had developed. Huge platinum machines that someone could control from the inside.

He heard the Chief of Police had resigned and was frequently visiting the Air Temple. That half the police force was in the hands of Amon. That she, the Airbending Master, and Korra were almost captured too had it not been for the defeat of Mr. Sato at the hands of his own daughter.

But none of that matter. None of it mattered at all.

Because it had been a week since he had seen her.

Despite popular belief, Tahno didn't do drugs. He had the occasional drink (well, more than occasional since the incident) and he would never say he was addicted to anything except glory and fame.

However, his stomach clenched every time he looked towards the direction of the Arena or Narook's or the Police Station. His heart skipped a beat every time his eyes caught the sight of a blue jacket or brown hair put up in a ponytail. He couldn't sleep. He barely ate.

It felt an awful like how one would describe withdrawal.

_It doesn't make any sense_, Tahno told himself while sitting up in bed, waking up from an all-too-familiar nightmare. _She's been in my life for less than a month. I met her three times. I don't even _know_ her._

He didn't like this obsessive need to find her. To tell her he wanted to help take down Amon with her and the rest of her friends. He wanted to _try _and be her friend.

This had never happened to him before. Emotions bubbled across his chest at the thought of her and her name. His face flushed, his palms ached, and his shoulders tensed.

He was in love and he had no idea what to do.

He couldn't go to Air Temple Island unannounced. She didn't consider him a friend. Neither did the Fire Ferret brothers. He was an acquaintance of Asami's, but he hadn't talked to her, in what? Six months? It would be a poor excuse to show up and offer up his condolences for her rogue father.

Frustrated, he growled and threw his pillow across the room. Once upon what seemed like a lifetime ago, women had flocked to him. He never had to look for a girl to sling his arm around. He never had to pursue. All he had to do was wink and boom! She was his for the night or several. He probably could still do that. There were women who loved a project...

But it sounded so _cheap_ now. He was disgusted with the very thought. It was such a sudden change to the way he was two measly weeks before.

He had his bending then. A veil of ignorance still draped across his eyes. It was both a blessing and curse that it had been removed, that he saw the world for it was. That he saw himself for what he was and what he had been.

That he saw _her_ for what she was.

It was precisely for this reason that the next day he made his way to the ferry dock that went to and from Air Temple Island. His eyes narrowed as they glanced over the water, a surge of anger bristling through his blood. If he had his bending, he could just swim there. If he had his bending, he could actually be of use to her and her fight against Amon.

If he still had his bending, he probably wouldn't be in love with her.

_As much. _

So absorbed in the possibilities, the what-ifs that he almost missed the loud, familiar bark of polar-bear dog a few docks down and a loud, familiar voice telling said polar-bear dog to calm down.

Almost.

Tahno whipped his head around and spotted the pair racing towards Downtown. Wasting no time, Tahno ran after them, doing his best to remember all the short-cuts that could give him the lead. His breath went ragged and his heartbeat quickened less than a minute within his mad dash towards Korra. He cursed himself for his lack of sleep, appetite, and exercise over the last week. How the hell was he supposed to help her if he could barely help himself.

His legs brought him to the large fountain at the center of the park. He was still so far from where Korra seemed to be headed...but he was so tired and aggravated with himself. All he wanted to do was cry and scream that it wasn't fair. That the Spirits would curse him to fall in love with Avatar right after his entire world went topsy-turvy. It was such a cruel punishment that unfortunately, he couldn't really say he didn't deserve. At least not entirely.

In his lament over the his recent emotional struggles, Tahno didn't notice on the other side of the fountain a certain polar-bear dog lapping water into her mouth and a certain young woman jumping off its back and stretching her legs. Didn't see her stroll to the other side of the fountain and her eyes widening at his deteriorating hands gripping at his scraggly hair. Didn't see her walk up and gently place her hand on his bony shoulder.

"Tahno?" she asked, unsure if this was the same young man she had seen a week ago. "Is that you?"

He froze. It couldn't be...it wasn't...

Lifting his head up, the bright sunlight temporarily blinded him and he couldn't see the face of the woman in front of him. Even as the sunlight decreased, his vision was still blurred by the tears threatening to fall.

But he was still able to make out her dark skin. Her tight clothes. Her sky-blue eyes.

"Korra," he sighed. He was so relieved to see her again. To know she was alright.

So relieved in fact, he fainted, body falling into the fountain.

"Tahno!"

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**CI:** I would like to thank everyone for the lovely reviews! You are all so kind and amazing. I'm glad we all can relish in this wonderful pairing because I certainly believe it has tons of potential (which stinks for me because I ship Borra as well. I'm not overtly fond of love triangles...)

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and see you guys soon~


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